Quick Yoga Poses: Routines Can Accelerate Your Day On The Right Foot

It is well-known that meditation can be used as a relaxation ritual to help you sleep better. However, an energizing routine can also help start your day on the right foot. By allowing you to drop into a flow state, it helps you tackle tasks and adapt to change while boosting creativity, happiness, and attentiveness. Moreover, it gives you the chance to wake up and prepare, providing you with the space to focus before diving into your to-do list.

Research shows that meditation can shrink the amygdala (the area of the brain that fires up the stress response) while thickening the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is involved in thinking and behavioural skills. Would you like to hear from wellness experts about their favourite AM meditation or yoga routines to start their day in the best possible way? \

I spoke to four wellness experts to get their tips.

If you have 2 minutes, you can try inversions. Forward folds and inversions help to energize and wake up the body. “Some asanas are Adhomukhasana (downward facing dog), Sarvangasana (shoulder stand), and Sirsasana (headstand). When you’re upside down, oxygen-rich blood flows to the brain. More blood means more oxygen, which improves brain function.

If you have 5 minutes, you can try the kechari mudra. Dr Shailendra Chaubey, medical director at Vedary, shares a quick yogic trick to follow every morning. “Sit comfortably. Feel your presence. Roll your tongue back, and touch the tip to the upper palate. Gently close your eyes. Stay present for five minutes by focusing on the third eye or the area in the middle of the forehead and observing your breathwork, as you inhale and exhale.” How does this help? “Meditating in this pose helps us concentrate all our energies on two main master glands—the pituitary and pineal glands, which further activate the optimum functioning of the system from within.

If you have 10 minutes, you can try dancing it out. “Shaking is a primal instinct in animals that happens to ward off excessive tension, stress, or fear inside the body.

Humans are super animals, but they are conditioned to remain static, stoic, or in their analytical heads all the time. Start the day by shaking your body. Find a spot of sunlight or face an open window where the morning sky can be seen. Tuck in the tailbone slightly, keep the knees softly bent, and keep the hip-width distance between the feet, and shoulders relaxed, hands to your side hanging without tension. Very gradually start shaking. Open your arms and let the fingers shake—try to move them as if depicting a drizzle. This energizes the tip of the nerve endings, strengthening neuromuscular coordination.”

If you have 15 minutes, you can add in a guided meditation session to your routine. Start your day with a 10-15-minute guided meditation session.

“Before you start, adjust your posture so that your back and neck are aligned. After observing a couple of deep breaths, start visualizing the body parts one by one with breathing and then relax those muscles. Scan the entire body part by part. After the body is relaxed, then focus on the breathing. “Direct your inner focus at the tip of your nostrils, observe the coolness of the inhaled air and also the slight warm sensation of the air that you exhale. Visualize that each exhalation takes away all negativities from your mind such as fear, anxiety, and guilt.